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29 Oct 2003 : Column 301W—continued

Insurance Premiums

Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to require, as part of Employers Liability Compulsory Insurance, main contractors to bear responsibility for any subcontractors that they employ. [132842]

Mr. Browne: For the overwhelming majority of employers it is a legal requirement to have Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance (ELCI).

In support of this, model conditions of contract in guidance on procurement in the public sector expect contractors to comply with the requirement to have

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(ELCI) and provide that contractors shall be responsible for the acts and omissions of their sub-contractors as though they were their own.

However the Government intends to issue supplementary guidance with reference to ELCI, to make the confirmation of contractor and subcontractor compliance a more explicit part of the tendering process.

We would encourage a similar standard in the private sector.

Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to issue guidance to the insurance industry advising that companies with proven good records in health and safety should have that reflected in lower insurance premiums. [132845]

Mr. Browne: The Association of British Insurers (ABI) recently announced an initiative "Making the Market Work" under which an ABI/lnsurer assessment committee will advise trade associations on their health and safety schemes taking into account best practice features that employers' liability compulsory insurance (ELCI) insurers expect to see in place.

Government are also working with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to link its 'risk profiling' tools to insurers underwriting decisions.

These initiatives are a first step towards ensuring that insurance premiums better reflect the health and safety records of companies.

Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will include in his Department's second report into employers liability compulsory insurance a study of (a) the administrative and legal costs incurred in settling claims and (b) their impact on premiums. [132849]

Mr. Browne: The Department included a study of the administrative and legal costs incurred in settling claims and their impact on premiums in the First Stage Report of the Review of Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance published on 3 June 2003. A copy of this is available in the Library. The Department's second stage report to be published in the autumn will not repeat this analysis but will set out the further actions that we propose to take. A copy of this will also be placed in the Library of the House on publication.

Pensioners' Benefits

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of public expenditure on the (a) winter fuel allowance, (b) free television licence and (c) Christmas bonus for pensioners in (i) 1997–98, (ii) 2002–03, (iii) 2010, (iv) 2020, (v) 2030, (vi) 2040, (vii) 2050 and (viii) for other years for which estimates have been made. [134472]

Mr. Browne: The information requested is in the table.

Projected expenditure on winter fuel payments, free television licences for the over 75s, and Christmas bonus for pensioners£ million, 2003–04 prices

	1997–98	2002–03	2010–11	2020–21	2030–31	2040–41	2050–51
Winter fuel payments	227	1,758	1,808	1,608	1,476	1,194	962
Free TV licences	0	384	469	636	903	1,231	1,477
Christmas bonus for pensioners	131	113	102	81	74	62	48

Notes:

1. All figures expressed in £ million, 2003–04 prices and rounded to the nearest million.

2. Projections are those underlying the Budget 2003 Economic and Fiscal Strategy Report, Annex A.

3. Expenditure is for Great Britain, except free TV licences for the over 75s which is for the United Kingdom.

4. The winter fuel payments expenditure includes expenditure on the 80+ annual payment announced in Budget 2003.

5. Current government policy on uprating of benefits is assumed throughout.

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Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of public expenditure on public sector pensions as a percentage of gross domestic product in (a) 1997–98, (b) 2002–03, (c) 2010, (d) 2020, (e) 2030, (f) 2040, (g) 2050 and (h) for other years for which estimates have been made. [134477]

Ruth Kelly: I have been asked to reply.

Public expenditure on public sector pensions is measured as contributions by Government employers to funded schemes plus pension payments and other outgoings, net of employee contributions and other receipts, in the case of unfunded schemes. The Treasury has no operational need to aggregate expenditure across all public sector pension schemes.

Public expenditure in the four major unfunded pension schemes (NHS, Teachers, Armed Forces and Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme) accounted for 1.00 per cent. of GDP in 1997–98 and provision was

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made in 2002–03 for net expenditure equivalent to 1.03 per cent. of GDP. Final figures for 2002–03 will only be available when resource accounts are published.

To help inform the illustrative long-term fiscal projections, estimates are being made of likely future expenditure on public service unfunded pensions under a variety of scenarios. We will consider how far it would be meaningful to disaggregate these projections into different components given the critical dependence of estimates on the assumptions made.

State Pension

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his Answer of 15 July 2003, Official Report, column 252W, on the state pension, if he will calculate the figures on the assumption that earnings growth exceeded price inflation by 1.5 per cent. in each of the six years in question. [132890]

Mr. Browne: The information requested is in the tables.

Table 1: The gross cost of uprating the basic State Pension by 1.5 per cent. above inflation from April 2004£ billion

	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10	2010–11
All pensioners	0.9	1.3	1.9	2.6	3.3	4.0
Pensioners aged 65 and over	0.7	1.0	1.4	1.8	2.3	2.8
Pensioners aged 70 and above	0.6	0.9	1.2	1.7	2.1	2.5
Pensioners aged 75 and above	0.4	0.6	0.8	1.1	1.4	1.7
Pensioners aged 80 and over	0.2	0.4	0.5	0.7	0.8	1.0

Table 2: The net cost of uprating the basic State Pension by 1.5 per cent. above inflation from April 2004£ billion

	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10	2010–11
All pensioners	0.7	1.0	1.4	1.8	2.3	2.8
Pensioners aged 65 and over	0.5	0.7	1.0	1.3	1.6	2.0
Pensioners aged 70 and over	0.4	0.6	0.8	1.1	1.4	1.7
Pensioners aged 75 and over	0.3	0.4	0.5	0.7	0.9	1.1
Pensioners aged 80 and over	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.4	0.5	0.6

Notes:

1. All costs are rounded to the nearest £100 million and are in 2003–04 price terms.

2. Gross costs are calculated by the Government Actuary's Department and are consistent with Budget 2003 assumptions.

3. The net costs are calculated using the DWP Policy Simulation Model for 2005–06. The net cost represents the cost after allowing for any offsetting savings in income-related benefits.

4. It is assumed that the start of the Savings Credit is increased to the value of the earnings linked basic State Pension.

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his answer of 15 July 2003, Official Report, column 252W, on the state pension, what allowance was made for the non take-up of means-tested benefits in each of the six years in question. [132891]

Mr. Browne: The net costs of earnings uprating are calculated using the Department's Policy Simulation Model. The model takes account of the take-up of benefits and its results are consistent with the Department's forecasts for benefit expenditure and case loads for 2004–05 and 2005–06. In calculating costs for years after 2005–06 no change to levels of take-up is modelled.

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his answer of 15 July, Official Report, column 252W, on the state pension, what assumption has been made in each of the six years in question for the amount by which earnings growth exceeds price inflation. [132893]

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Mr. Browne: The previous answer was consistent with economic assumptions underpinning the 2003 budget. Medium and Long-term projections as published in the 2003 budget, forecast real earnings growth at 2 per cent.

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